Chapter One

Pull the needle until the end and stick it in.

“Ow!”

Suck finger if it bleeds.

What a mantra.

“Euthenas!” Hesasa clucked her tongue and bandaged the little girl’s pricked finger. When will this obstinate little girl ever learn how to sew?

“It’s not my fault, Hesasa! It rebelled against me!” Euthenas hated sewing. She did not understand how it would benefit her. She cast a pleading glance at her ‘nurse’.

“Can I please, please, go out and ride Riyah until Jargi returns? I promise I won’t scrape my knee or tear my dress or -”

Hesasa put a finger on her lips. “But you are a girl, Euthenas. You should be doing this - ” she pointed to the half-done piece of sewing laying on the child’s lap. “- not spending time in this hot sun riding a pony and get sand in your eyes and blame it on the desert wind. You have to learn to be a lady. Your father entrusted me with this duty, and if you want to be able to visit here again, please finish your sewing,” she sized it up. “It looks rather, er, becoming. What is it?”

Euthenas laughed wryly. “It’s a horse.”

Hesasa was just serving tea when the sound of hooves outside the house made Euthenas jump out of her seat and run out of the room.

“Jargi!”

“Euthenas!” Hesasa called after her.

Euthenas bounded through the house she knew so well. It was smaller than her home, the palace, but she loved it better. There was love here, given to her by Hesasa, who had taken care of her ever since she was an infant, because Euthenas’s mother, the beautiful Queen Shiera, had died giving birth to her. Hesasa was the Prime Minister’s wife, yet she was dearer to her than her father and brothers.

Jargi was brushing his brown stallion down in the stables when Euthenas found him. “There you are! Come on, teach me the trick you promised to teach me yesterday!”

She tugged at his hand.

He laughed. “Which one?”

Euthenas frowned. “Jumping over the fence on Riyah.”

He hung the saddle on a hook and strode out of the stable towards the tool shed. Euthenas scuttled after him, rubbing her eyes as the sand he kicked up behind him flew about her. “But the stable is over there!” Euthenas pointed behind her.

The middle-aged man laughed gruffly. “I have something more interesting.”

Euthenas gulped. It did not sound good.

Jargi entered the shed and retrieved a short sword. He unsheathed it. Euthenas gasped as the blade gleamed in the mid-afternoon sun. “Oh, Jargi! You are going to teach me how to fight!”

He nodded as he swung the sword several times to test its resilience. “It is as important as riding a horse. This sword is the best in the shed. I forged this myself, did you know?”

“Indeed,” Euthenas breathed.

He sheathed it and held it in front of her. “I want you to have it.”

Euthenas gasped. “I – I can’t. You I know I cannot. If Father knows . . . he won’t be pleased.” She could not imagine the rage her father would fly into if he ever found out. He would punish her and forbid her from going to the dear house she always spent her afternoon at. Worse still, she was putting Prime Minister Khokendatf’s position in jeopardy.

“Then I guess we won’t tell him, eh?” Jargi winked.

Euthenas giggled. No, he did not need to know.

The sun was dipping low on the horizon when Jargi called it a day. Euthenas was already in love with her sword and the fine art of striking a balance when fighting with it. Jargi taught her how to appreciate the weapon, how to use it to her advantage and win her a duel.

“Always remember this, Euthenas, be one with the sword, and the sword will be one with you,” Jargi told her at the end of the practice session. Euthenas tilted her head and thought it over. “It is easier than the sewing mantra, at least.”

Jargi laughed and ruffled her hair. “Who cares about sewing?”

She giggled and threw her arms around his legs. “I love you, Jargi. You are much better than Father.”

Jargi’s face hardened. He pried her hands from his legs and gave her a hard look. “Don’t say that again, ever. You understand?” He growled.

Euthenas was frightened. He had never been that way before. She shook considerably.

“Understand, girl?” he gripped her shoulders and shook her roughly. His brown eyes glazed with anger, his breathing became heavy and his grip was painful. Later on in her years, that look would become very much a part of her trouble-riddled life. But the eight-year-old girl trembling before her best friend, her first mentor, was shaken to the bone.

Fortunately Hesasa had come out to remind Euthenas that it was time she went home and saw Jargi and his angry look.

“Jargias! What are you doing?” she pulled her elder brother away from Euthenas.

“Let go! You are hurting her! She is King Hieros’s daughter!”

Jargi’s eyes cleared, and he let go of her. Euthenas’s breath still shook, but thankfully the fright was over. “Forgive me, princess.” He bowed in mock respect and headed into the house. Euthenas’s eyes trailed after him.

Hesasa knelt and took Euthenas’s face in her hands. “Do not worry, Euthenas. He is always like that, very temperamental. He will be all right tomorrow, you’ll see.” When Euthenas did not reply, she kissed her on her forehead and smoothened her hair. “Come, let me tidy you up. Then I will accompany you home, to the palace.” She took her hand.

Euthenas looked up at Hesasa’s kind face. She did not want to leave the homely house which was not hers, especially as she felt she should do something to make it up to Jargi. But duty required her to eat with her unhappy family at every meal. Furthermore, Father was quick to anger lately. Prime Minister Khokendatf said that the northern territory was rebelling, and Father was having a hard time quelling the fight. He said it was so bad that they might have to let it go.

Euthenas nodded. “All right.”

Please comment.